Spanish Islamic Art: THE ART OF THE ALHAMBRA DE GRANADA Spain was conquered in 714 A.D. by Muslim armies (after being conquered by, among others, Romans and Visigoths). During the 800 years until Spain was reconquered by Christians, the Muslims greatly influenced the culture of Spain. During the middle ages, when little mathematics and science were being done in the rest of Europe, Spain was an intellectual center. The Alhambra is a walled city and fortress in Granada, Spain. It was built during the last Islamic sultanate on the Iberian peninsula, the Nasrid Dynasty (1238-1492). The palace is lavishly decorated with stone and wood carvings and tile patterns on most of the ceilings, walls, and floors. Islamic art does not use representations of living beings, but heavily uses geometric patterns, especially symmetric (repeating) patterns. In this "Medieval-Renaissance" period, Arabic artists excelled in the geometric art of figrative adornment. The finest example of this is The Alhambra in Grenada (Spain), a fortess and palace. Mathematicians recognize 128 distinct patterns of "the wallpaper-tile group". All of these appear in the decorations of The Alhambra. Since 711, with the attack and conquest of the Peninsula, Spain was under Islamic rule for eight centuries, until 1492, when the Catholic Monarchs conquered the last Moslem domain: the Kingdom of Granada. Al-Andalus, as the Arabian named the conquered territories in the Iberian Peninsula, became one of the most important cultural centers in Europe. The most outstanding Islamic centers in Spain were Cordoba, in the first place; and then Granada. The Almohads´s defeat in the battle of Navas de Tolosa in 1212 allowed the Christians to advance. This fact, apart from splitting the Muslim supremacy, divided the Islamic power into new kingdoms of which the Granada Nazarí one was the most wealthy and powerful since 1238. Some of the most important artistic works of the Islamic art, which also constitute the last samples from the Hispano-Muslim art, rose during their domain. The Alhambra, together with the Generalife gardens, are undoubtedly the most fascinating monumental complex from the Nazarí art. The Alhambra, which was built on the remains of an 11th century ancient castle, became then a palace and, later on, a small town where the nazarí sultans had their residence. The Alhambra stands on the highest point of the Sabíka Hill, which rises on the left bank of the Darro river. The Alhambra name comes from the reddish color of the walls of a previous castle, already mentioned in the Arabian chronicles of 889. The existence of a "red castle" on the Sabika Hill allows scholars to date its antiquity. According to the 12th century chronicles, the Nazarí resistance used the Alhambra as a refuge from both the Almoravids and the Almohads. It is quite probable that the last ones dismantled the old citadel when the different revolts had been put down. The Alhambra is the most important work of art dating from the last Islamic sultanate in the Iberian Peninsula. The Nasrid Dynasty (1238 - 1492), who was responsible for the building of the Palace, combined artistic and cultural activities with their constant policy of military campaigns and pacts. Within the long tradition of Hispano-Muslim art, the Nasrids represent the culmination of the evolution of Islamic culture in Europe which at the time was more advanced than that of their feudal Christian enemies. The Alhambra of Granada is the most characteristic example of Nasrid art, which is the high point of the periods of the Emirate, the Caliphate of Cordoba, the Alhambra is one of the most widely known of all Islamic works of art. The Nasrid Sultans chose as the site for their court the Sabika hill, one of the foothills of Sierra Nevada on the plain of Granada, which constituted an excellent site from which to keep watch over the capital of their kingdom and the surrounding area. From the beginning of the 13th century, the small older buildings gradually grew into a huge walled site which clearly intended to be both palace and court. Within this gradual change, different stages of development, grandeur and decadence can clearly be seen through the various works of art and buildings erected over the years. The Alhambra was not a single static construction, built at a specific date, but rather the result of an evolution, successive reforms and extensions. Its buildings are divided into four main different, though not independent areas. The Alcazaba, i. e. the military fortress, built on the oldest site of the Alhambra, was soon put to purely military use since it was situated on the highest part of the hill, watching over the surrounding area. The Medina, created to house craftsmen and serve the needs of the court, has the layout of a town in miniature. It occupies the largest part of the walled area, situated within the so-called "Upper Alhambra", and still conserves the ruins of several houses, baths and small workshops on its typical alleys and squares. The Palaces are independent from each other, and maintain a slight hierarchy. To date, five palaces which belonged to the sultan all within an area clearly set aside for palaces, together with at least two others, that of the Abencerrajes and that of the former Saint Francis' Convent, both within the Medina, have been identified. Finally, the outlying buildings, designed to be leisure and supply centers also fulfilled a defensive function. They were to be found throughout the area surrounding the Alhambra and included the Generalife, Torres Bermejas and the Palace of the Alijares, which unfortunately no longer exists. One of the most surprising characteristics of the Alhambra is the way in which its simple structures were transformed into truly pleasing architectural jewels by the magnificent decorative work of anonymous craftsmen, and continue to enthrall and delight those who wee them today. Although the Alhambra is today devoid of furniture, and most of the rich colors of its decoration have worn off, we have been left at least the testimony of its purpose summed up for prosperity by the dynasty's moto, wa la galiba illa Allah (No one conquers but Allah), which appears so many times in the decoration of its buildings amidst innumerable religious quotations and poetic lines, as proof of a spirit alive beyond "mere" material constructions. The Arab Contribution. Muslims left an enormous contribution to the history of the world during their time in Spain. They preserved much of the learning of the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Persians and transmitted this knowledge back to the Europeans via Spain. They also had many many innovations of their own. Contemporary art, linguistics, science, medicine, philosophy and mathematics all owe a debt to the Spanish Muslims. Modern Spanish and Portuguese have two main roots: Latin and Arabic. Much of these languages come to us as a direct result of the Muslims who lived in the Iberian Peninsula. At that time, Arabic was the international scientific language. Muslims also created many schools and very famous universities. Following the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Middle Ages, many texts from Classical Antiquity had been lost to the Europeans. In the Middle East however, many of these Greek texts (such as Aristotle) were translated from Greek into Syriac during the 6th and 7th centuries by monks living in Palestine, or by Greek exiles from Athens or Edessa who visited Islamic Universities. Many of these texts however were then kept, translated, and developed upon by the Islamic world, especially in centers of learning such as Baghdad, where a “House of Wisdom”, with thousands of manuscripts existed as soon as 832. These texts were translated again into European languages during the Middle Ages. These texts were translated back into Latin in multiple ways. One of the main points of transmission of Islamic knowledge to Europe was in Toledo, Spain. Islam was not, however, a simple re-transmitter of knowledge from antiquity. It also developed its own sciences, such as algebra, chemistry, geology, spherical trigonometry, etc. which were later also transmitted to the West. Stefan of Pise translated into Latin around 1127 an Arab manual of medical theory. The method of algorism for performing arithmetic with Indian-Arabic numerals was developed by al-Khwarizmi (hence the word “Algorithm”) in the 9th century, and introduced in Europe by Leonardo Fibonacci (1170–1250). A translation of the //Algebra// by al-Kharizmi is known as early as 1145. Ibn al-Haytham compiled treaties on optical sciences, which were used as references by Newton and Descartes. Medical sciences were also highly developed in Islam as testified by the Crusaders, who relied on Arab doctors on numerous occasions. Contributing to the growth of European science was the major search by European scholars for new learning which they could only find among Muslims, especially in Islamic Spain and Sicily. These scholars translated new scientific and philosophical texts from Arabic into Latin. In short, the contributions of the Muslims to modern Western culture have been profound with permanent results.
"Torre de las Damas" in the Partal of the Alhambra. The site formed part of a Nasrid Palace, dating from the first half of the XIV century.
The so called Hall of Comares, in the Alhambra, was in fact the Throne Hall about the middle of the XIV century. The Baths of the Alhambra. Inside of the "Torre de las Infantas" of the Alhambra.
Islamic art uses patterns made of geometric designs. Complex geometric designs create the impression of unending repetition, which is believed by some to represent the infinite (unending in time and space) nature of God. In religious buildings and palaces, as well as in common objects like bowls and rugs, the art of Arabic geometric designs is very common. A. The star was the most common Islamic design. In Islamic design, the star is a regular geometric shape that symbolizes equal radiation in all directions from a central point. All regular stars -- whether they have 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 16 points -- are created by a division of a circle into equal parts. Here is an example of a six-pointed star found in a mosque in Lahore, Pakistan: Eight pointed stars can also be made from two squares turned at different angles: . . . Here are some colorful tiles that show the geometrical designs that come from two squares - the eight-pointed star. Tiles from Andalusia, Muslim Spain Tiles from the Alhambra Palace, Grenada, Andalusia Here are five-pointed stars that repeat in patterns based on a square. Here are some decorations based on the twelve-pointed star. In 1936, the Dutch artist M. C. Escher visited the Alhambra, the fourteenth-century Moorish palace in southern Spain, and experienced a revelation. Until that time, Escher, who lived from 1898 to 1972, had directed his gaze toward the natural world. His work had consisted of portraits, plant and figure studies, and renderings of Italian hill towns and the Mediterranean coastline. An extraordinary craftsman who worked primarily in woodcutting and lithography, Escher had painstakingly studied natural form and explored techniques for transforming three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional graphic designs. He had not yet devised the tile patterns, geometric solids, impossible structures, and optical illusions for which he would become famous. Escher's trip to the Alhambra gave new direction to his work. The walls and floors of the palace are decorated with colorful and intricately carved tessellations, patterns of tiles capable of covering an entire surface without leaving space between them. Escher filled sketchbook after sketchbook with pencil drawings reproducing the patterns and analyzing their geometry. Excited by his discovery, he wrote, years later: What a pity it was that Islam forbade the making of "images." In their tessellations they restricted themselves to figures with abstracted geometrical shapes. So far as I know, no single Moorish artist ever made so bold as to use concrete recognizable figures such as birds, fish, reptiles, and human beings as elements of their tessellations. Then I find this restriction all the more unacceptable because... it is precisely this crossing of the divide between abstract and concrete representations, between "mute" and "speaking" figures, which leads to the heart of what fascinates me above all in the regular division of the plane. Escher defined "tessellation" as "the regular division of a plane” or "Repeating shapes or patterns that cover a surface without gaps or overlaps." The Alhambra artists made many beautiful tessellations long before Escher was born, but Escher made tessellation art popular.
THE ART OF THE ALHAMBRA DE GRANADA
Spain was conquered in 714 A.D. by Muslim armies (after being conquered by, among others, Romans and Visigoths). During the 800 years until Spain was reconquered by Christians, the Muslims greatly influenced the culture of Spain. During the middle ages, when little mathematics and science were being done in the rest of Europe, Spain was an intellectual center.
The Alhambra is a walled city and fortress in Granada, Spain. It was built during the last Islamic sultanate on the Iberian peninsula, the Nasrid Dynasty (1238-1492). The palace is lavishly decorated with stone and wood carvings and tile patterns on most of the ceilings, walls, and floors. Islamic art does not use representations of living beings, but heavily uses geometric patterns, especially symmetric (repeating) patterns.
In this "Medieval-Renaissance" period, Arabic artists excelled in the geometric art of figrative adornment. The finest example of this is The Alhambra in Grenada (Spain), a fortess and palace. Mathematicians recognize 128 distinct patterns of "the wallpaper-tile group". All of these appear in the decorations of The Alhambra.
Since 711, with the attack and conquest of the Peninsula, Spain was under Islamic rule for eight centuries, until 1492, when the Catholic Monarchs conquered the last Moslem domain: the Kingdom of Granada. Al-Andalus, as the Arabian named the conquered territories in the Iberian Peninsula, became one of the most important cultural centers in Europe. The most outstanding Islamic centers in Spain were Cordoba, in the first place; and then Granada.
The Almohads´s defeat in the battle of Navas de Tolosa in 1212 allowed the Christians to advance. This fact, apart from splitting the Muslim supremacy, divided the Islamic power into new kingdoms of which the Granada Nazarí one was the most wealthy and powerful since 1238.
Some of the most important artistic works of the Islamic art, which also constitute the last samples from the Hispano-Muslim art, rose during their domain. The Alhambra, together with the Generalife gardens, are undoubtedly the most fascinating monumental complex from the Nazarí art.
The Alhambra, which was built on the remains of an 11th century ancient castle, became then a palace and, later on, a small town where the nazarí sultans had their residence. The Alhambra stands on the highest point of the Sabíka Hill, which rises on the left bank of the Darro river.
The Alhambra name comes from the reddish color of the walls of a previous castle, already mentioned in the Arabian chronicles of 889. The existence of a "red castle" on the Sabika Hill allows scholars to date its antiquity. According to the 12th century chronicles, the Nazarí resistance used the Alhambra as a refuge from both the Almoravids and the Almohads. It is quite probable that the last ones dismantled the old citadel when the different revolts had been put down.
The Alhambra is the most important work of art dating from the last Islamic sultanate in the Iberian Peninsula. The Nasrid Dynasty (1238 - 1492), who was responsible for the building of the Palace, combined artistic and cultural activities with their constant policy of military campaigns and pacts.
Within the long tradition of Hispano-Muslim art, the Nasrids represent the culmination of the evolution of Islamic culture in Europe which at the time was more advanced than that of their feudal Christian enemies. The Alhambra of Granada is the most characteristic example of Nasrid art, which is the high point of the periods of the Emirate, the Caliphate of Cordoba, the Alhambra is one of the most widely known of all Islamic works of art.
The Nasrid Sultans chose as the site for their court the Sabika hill, one of the foothills of Sierra Nevada on the plain of Granada, which constituted an excellent site from which to keep watch over the capital of their kingdom and the surrounding area. From the beginning of the 13th century, the small older buildings gradually grew into a huge walled site which clearly intended to be both palace and court.
Within this gradual change, different stages of development, grandeur and decadence can clearly be seen through the various works of art and buildings erected over the years. The Alhambra was not a single static construction, built at a specific date, but rather the result of an evolution, successive reforms and extensions.
Its buildings are divided into four main different, though not independent areas.
The Alcazaba, i. e. the military fortress, built on the oldest site of the Alhambra, was soon put to purely military use since it was situated on the highest part of the hill, watching over the surrounding area.
The Medina, created to house craftsmen and serve the needs of the court, has the layout of a town in miniature. It occupies the largest part of the walled area, situated within the so-called "Upper Alhambra", and still conserves the ruins of several houses, baths and small workshops on its typical alleys and squares.
The Palaces are independent from each other, and maintain a slight hierarchy. To date, five palaces which belonged to the sultan all within an area clearly set aside for palaces, together with at least two others, that of the Abencerrajes and that of the former Saint Francis' Convent, both within the Medina, have been identified. Finally, the outlying buildings, designed to be leisure and supply centers also fulfilled a defensive function. They were to be found throughout the area surrounding the Alhambra and included the Generalife, Torres Bermejas and the Palace of the Alijares, which unfortunately no longer exists.
One of the most surprising characteristics of the Alhambra is the way in which its simple structures were transformed into truly pleasing architectural jewels by the magnificent decorative work of anonymous craftsmen, and continue to enthrall and delight those who wee them today. Although the Alhambra is today devoid of furniture, and most of the rich colors of its decoration have worn off, we have been left at least the testimony of its purpose summed up for prosperity by the dynasty's moto, wa la galiba illa Allah (No one conquers but Allah), which appears so many times in the decoration of its buildings amidst innumerable religious quotations and poetic lines, as proof of a spirit alive beyond "mere" material constructions.
The Arab Contribution.
Muslims left an enormous contribution to the history of the world during their time in Spain. They preserved much of the learning of the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Persians and transmitted this knowledge back to the Europeans via Spain. They also had many many innovations of their own. Contemporary art, linguistics, science, medicine, philosophy and mathematics all owe a debt to the Spanish Muslims.
Modern Spanish and Portuguese have two main roots: Latin and Arabic. Much of these languages come to us as a direct result of the Muslims who lived in the Iberian Peninsula. At that time, Arabic was the international scientific language. Muslims also created many schools and very famous universities. Following the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Middle Ages, many texts from Classical Antiquity had been lost to the Europeans. In the Middle East however, many of these Greek texts (such as Aristotle) were translated from Greek into Syriac during the 6th and 7th centuries by monks living in Palestine, or by Greek exiles from Athens or Edessa who visited Islamic Universities. Many of these texts however were then kept, translated, and developed upon by the Islamic world, especially in centers of learning such as Baghdad, where a “House of Wisdom”, with thousands of manuscripts existed as soon as 832. These texts were translated again into European languages during the Middle Ages. These texts were translated back into Latin in multiple ways. One of the main points of transmission of Islamic knowledge to Europe was in Toledo, Spain.
Islam was not, however, a simple re-transmitter of knowledge from antiquity. It also developed its own sciences, such as algebra, chemistry, geology, spherical trigonometry, etc. which were later also transmitted to the West. Stefan of Pise translated into Latin around 1127 an Arab manual of medical theory. The method of algorism for performing arithmetic with Indian-Arabic numerals was developed by al-Khwarizmi (hence the word “Algorithm”) in the 9th century, and introduced in Europe by Leonardo Fibonacci (1170–1250). A translation of the //Algebra// by al-Kharizmi is known as early as 1145. Ibn al-Haytham compiled treaties on optical sciences, which were used as references by Newton and Descartes. Medical sciences were also highly developed in Islam as testified by the Crusaders, who relied on Arab doctors on numerous occasions. Contributing to the growth of European science was the major search by European scholars for new learning which they could only find among Muslims, especially in Islamic Spain and Sicily. These scholars translated new scientific and philosophical texts from Arabic into Latin.
In short, the contributions of the Muslims to modern Western culture have been profound with permanent results.
"Torre de las Damas" in the Partal of the Alhambra. The site formed part of a Nasrid Palace, dating from the first half of the XIV century.
The so called Hall of Comares, in the Alhambra, was in fact the Throne Hall about the middle of the XIV century.
The Baths of the Alhambra.
Inside of the "Torre de las Infantas" of the Alhambra.
Islamic art uses patterns made of geometric designs. Complex geometric designs create the impression of unending repetition, which is believed by some to represent the infinite (unending in time and space) nature of God. In religious buildings and palaces, as well as in common objects like bowls and rugs, the art of Arabic geometric designs is very common.
A. The star was the most common Islamic design. In Islamic design, the star is a regular geometric shape that symbolizes equal radiation in all directions from a central point. All regular stars -- whether they have 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 16 points -- are created by a division of a circle into equal parts.
Here is an example of a six-pointed star found in a mosque in Lahore, Pakistan:
Eight pointed stars can also be made from two squares turned at different angles:
. . .
Here are some colorful tiles that show the geometrical designs that come from two squares - the eight-pointed star.
Tiles from Andalusia, Muslim Spain
Tiles from the Alhambra Palace, Grenada, Andalusia
Here are five-pointed stars that repeat in patterns based on a square.
Here are some decorations based on the twelve-pointed star.
In 1936, the Dutch artist M. C. Escher visited the Alhambra, the fourteenth-century Moorish palace in southern Spain, and experienced a revelation. Until that time, Escher, who lived from 1898 to 1972, had directed his gaze toward the natural world. His work had consisted of portraits, plant and figure studies, and renderings of Italian hill towns and the Mediterranean coastline. An extraordinary craftsman who worked primarily in woodcutting and lithography, Escher had painstakingly studied natural form and explored techniques for transforming three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional graphic designs. He had not yet devised the tile patterns, geometric solids, impossible structures, and optical illusions for which he would become famous.
Escher's trip to the Alhambra gave new direction to his work. The walls and floors of the palace are decorated with colorful and intricately carved tessellations, patterns of tiles capable of covering an entire surface without leaving space between them. Escher filled sketchbook after sketchbook with pencil drawings reproducing the patterns and analyzing their geometry. Excited by his discovery, he wrote, years later:
What a pity it was that Islam forbade the making of "images." In their
tessellations they restricted themselves to figures with abstracted
geometrical shapes. So far as I know, no single Moorish artist ever
made so bold as to use concrete recognizable figures such as birds, fish, reptiles, and human beings as elements of their tessellations. Then I find this
restriction all the more unacceptable because... it is precisely this
crossing of the divide between abstract and concrete representations,
between "mute" and "speaking" figures, which leads to the heart of
what fascinates me above all in the regular division of the plane.
Escher defined "tessellation" as "the regular division of a plane” or "Repeating shapes or patterns that cover a surface without gaps or overlaps." The Alhambra artists made many beautiful tessellations long before Escher was born, but Escher made tessellation art popular.